Ye Ci flipped through the exercise book, found a few questions of the same type that Huo Tinglan had taught, and did them independently.
After working on the questions for a while, his emotions finally calmed down. Ye Ci looked up at Huo Tinglan several times, wanting to say thank you when their eyes happened to meet, but Huo Tinglan was so focused on his work that Ye Ci stared at him until his eyes were sore, but he didn't get the chance.
After hesitating for a while, Ye Ci called out softly: "Mr. Huo..."
He had moved into the Huo family for so long, but he had hardly ever taken the initiative to talk to Huo Tinglan. In the few times they had communicated, Huo Tinglan had always spoken first and he had responded, so he had never addressed Huo Tinglan by name.
Huo Tinglan had been observing him out of the corner of his eye for a long time, and as expected, he was greeted with an awkward "Mr. Huo".
In his previous life, Ye Ci was the same.
From the time they met to the ambiguous period of pursuit, he always called her "Mr. Huo" in a polite and unfamiliar way. After they became familiar with each other, he couldn't resist Huo Tinglan and finally changed to calling her by her first name. But even in the most intimate period, he only called her by her surname and first name, and refused to call her by anything else. When she was teased too much, her face would be red and swollen like a spring peach, and she would hang her head, clenching her fingertips in embarrassment and not say a word. After so many times, Huo Tinglan knew that he really couldn't call her by her surname, not only because of his personality, but also because of language barriers. He couldn't bear to tease him like that anymore, so he had to settle for the next best thing and comfort himself that calling her by her first name was intimate enough.
Huo Tinglan pondered for a moment, put down the documents, leaned lazily on the back of the chair, tapped the table with his fingertips, and did not respond to the "Mr. Huo", but changed the subject and said faintly: "This seems to be the first time you call me."
“… Really?” Ye Ci felt uncomfortable.
Huo Tinglan said in a neutral tone: "Why are you calling me so formally... I thought you wanted to discuss business with me."
Ye Ci remained silent, lowered his eyes, and showed a hint of shame.
After all, they were married and lived under the same roof. He was clearly being distant with Huo Tinglan by addressing her like that...
He felt that Huo Tinglan was a little unhappy.
But he really didn't know what to call it.
"Next time," Huo Tinglan pondered his demeanor, a smile appeared in his eyes, and he tentatively said, "Call me Uncle Huo."
There is a twelve-year age difference between them. One is a working man and the other is a student. Plus, the old men of the Huo and Chu families are of the same generation, so it is reasonable to call him "uncle". And the key point is that Huo Tinglan has always been itching for this title.
In some cases... it works wonders.
“…” Upon hearing that, Ye Ci’s jawline tightened, the corners of his mouth straightened, and his whole body exuded an awkward aura of “there won’t be a next time”.
A few seconds later.
He turned his face away and uttered "hmm" very lightly.
During this period, Ye Ci melted the thin layer of ice outside, and the little thing hidden inside turned out to be so obedient and soft...
Huo Tinglan retracted his gaze and scanned the documents calmly, as if nothing had happened, except that the corners of his lips curled up slightly, almost invisibly.
…
He deliberately didn't ask what Ye Ci had asked him to do. Five minutes later, Ye Ci really regrouped and called out hesitantly, "Uncle Huo..."
Huo Tinglan smiled, and a low syllable came out of his nose: "Hmm?"
Strictly speaking, a boy of seventeen or eighteen is past the age to address him with a double-word address like "Uncle So-and-so". He thought that with Ye Ci's awkward personality, he would definitely find a way to call him in a more awkward way, but he didn't expect that he would call him word for word exactly.
A clear, young voice, with hints of annoyance and shame, but also a well-behaved voice, gently called "uncle"...
Huo Tinglan sighed inwardly.
It's really terrible.
"Thank you for your hard work today. You explained... so many questions to me." Ye Ci prepared a draft in his mind and finished it in one go.
"You're welcome," Huo Tinglan calmed himself down, closed one document, and opened another, "If you have any questions, feel free to ask me."
Ye Ci looked at the thick pile of documents beside him: "You are busy at work, right?"
"Whether you're busy or not depends on the situation." Huo Tinglan said calmly.
Ye Ci understood and thought that he meant that he had busy times and free times, but he was not sure.
Huo Tinglan signed the contract quickly and added the second half of the sentence: "Studying is more important. I won't be busy if you ask me questions."
He looked calm, as if he was saying something normal, but Ye Ci seemed to have been hit hard, and he managed to utter two interjections in a daze: "... Uh, um."
Even if he has never seen the world... He has lived for eighteen years, and except Ye Hongjun, no one has ever treated him so attentively.
He always knew how to deal with people who didn't welcome him, all he had to do was see who had the harder fist.
But no one taught him how to get along with people who are nice to him.
He wanted to get closer and wait for equal kindness in return, but he was afraid of being clumsy and timid.
Huo Tinglan looked up and saw Ye Ci stammering, unable to utter a complete sentence. His heart softened and he finally withdrew his magical power. He said softly, "It's just a small favor. I won't be bothered by it." He flicked the file in his hand and sighed with a smile, "Thinking about these is much more tiring than doing the questions... Just think of it as helping me change my mind, okay?"
“…Okay.” Ye Ci’s eyes trembled slightly, and he nodded seriously.
With Huo Tinglan's guidance, Ye Ci saw hope and his enthusiasm for study increased. In addition to the homework assigned by the school, he also had to catch up on the progress he had missed during his previous absence. In order to achieve the goal he set for himself, he did not sleep until the early morning. After a week of hard work, he looked haggard. His skin was still as white as a young bamboo shoot, but the two faint blue spots under his eyes were particularly obvious.
Huo Tinglan was both relieved and distressed. He was afraid that Ye Ci would get too exhausted, so he would go to the study at 11 o'clock in the evening to chase him away and personally watch him go back to his room to rest.
Ye Ci agreed obediently, but secretly put the test paper folded into a small piece of tofu into his pocket, and got away with it. He studied in the bedroom late at night, and when he felt sleepy, he slipped to the terrace to smoke a cigarette.
He has always slept little, but his body could withstand the hard work. In order to raise money for Ye Hongjun's medical treatment, he often worked day and night during the most difficult year. When he was extremely sleepy while working, he would rest his head on the cash register and take a nap. As soon as he opened his eyes, he would have the energy to work again.
However, perhaps because he had been spoiled by Huo Tinglan during this period of time, Ye Ci was really exhausted and fell ill after staying up late and studying hard for half a month.
On this Friday, Ye Ci woke up early as usual, got out of bed and took out a few pills from his schoolbag.
Perhaps it was because fatigue led to low immunity, which allowed the cold virus to take advantage of the opportunity and invade his body. He has been feeling unwell for the past two days, with repeated fevers, drowsiness and fatigue. His stomach was also affected, with unexplained dull pain and bloating in his stomach.
Ye Ci picked out the pills, gathered a handful in his palm, and swallowed them all in one gulp.
Anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antipyretic and analgesic...
He developed this heavy medication habit in the past two years. While working several jobs a day, he has no time to go to the hospital if he has a headache or fever, so he simply takes broad-spectrum treatment and takes all the medicines that may be suitable for the symptoms, so as to recover early and avoid missing work.
What was different from previous colds was that this time the cold was quite stubborn. Ye Ci took medicine for two days but it didn't work. He felt so uncomfortable that he couldn't stand it anymore. He looked sick while eating breakfast, and someone finally noticed something was wrong.
"Mr. Ye, are you feeling unwell?" Uncle He asked with concern.
"It's okay," Ye Ci said, resisting the urge to eat, and swallowed a mouthful of porridge, "It's just... I have a slight fever."
Uncle He looked at the flushed face and thought it was not a low-grade fever, so he suggested, "I'll tell Mr. Huo for you and ask him to take half a day off for you and ask the doctor to come over to see you... What do you think?"
"No, that's all. Thank you." Ye Ci stood up and left.
He was afraid that Huo Tinglan would be extra strict in monitoring his sleep if he knew about it, but he really wanted to catch up with school as soon as possible.
As a result, Uncle He passed the message quickly. As soon as Ye Ci arrived at school, Huo Tinglan called him to confirm whether he was really okay.
"It's really okay... I took medicine." Ye Ci walked out of the classroom and talked on his phone in the corridor. His voice was particularly soft because of the fever.
"What medicine?" Huo Tinglan asked.
In order to reassure people, Ye Ci stammered out a long list of medicine names.
Huo Tinglan was silent for a while, took a deep breath, and then said, "Overdose of cold medicine may cause liver and kidney damage, don't you know?"
Ye Ci was slightly stunned. He really didn’t know.
What about liver and kidney damage... He had never heard of it, but he just knew that it would heal faster that way.
Huo Tinglan sighed softly and asked: "...What's your temperature?"
"I didn't measure it..." Ye Ci heard that Huo Tinglan was unhappy, and said hurriedly, "Yes, it must be a low-grade fever."
It was said to be a low-grade fever, but in fact he had no concept of fever temperature. He would just treat it as a low-grade fever if he didn't have a fever and lay down.
"Low fever..." Huo Tinglan knew that Ye Ci's definition of "low fever" was different from that of ordinary people, so he frowned and ordered, "Go to the infirmary and take your temperature. After taking the temperature, take a photo of the thermometer and send it to me. If the fever is serious, I will pick you up."
"Really," Ye Ci licked his lips, "Today's whole morning, it's all about the main subjects. I, I want to go to school..."
Huo Tinglan interrupted him rarely, and said in a low and cold voice: "Do you want me to measure it for you personally?"
Ye Ci was slightly startled. After being together for so long, this was the first time he heard Huo Tinglan speak to him in this tone. He didn't know why, but his heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly said, "No, no, I... can measure it myself."
He dragged his feet to the infirmary. His head was burning and dizzy, and his legs were weak due to the dull pain in his lower abdomen. The symptoms were even worse than before he took the medicine in the morning. He asked the school doctor for an electronic thermometer, sat on the edge of the bed to take his temperature, and fiddled with his phone absentmindedly. When his fingertips passed over the three words "Uncle Huo" in the call log, he suddenly felt an indescribable feeling in his heart.
It's about... warm.
The whole person seemed to have shrunk into a tiny ball, being held tightly by a pair of warm hands.
A completely unfamiliar feeling.
At this time, the electronic thermometer started beeping.
39 degrees 5.
Feeling the warmth in his heart, Ye Ci pursed his lips and hesitated for a moment, but finally gave up and took a photo and sent it to Huo Tinglan.
It only took two or three seconds for the other side to respond quickly.
[Huo Tinglan]: Wait for me.
After a while, fearing that Ye Ci would act recklessly, he sent two more messages.
[Huo Tinglan]: I’ll take you to the hospital now. I can make up for the classes you missed.
[Huo Tinglan]: Be good.
It was actually a coaxing tone.
Ye Ci was stunned.
He is a boy...
What's the matter with being well behaved
He was so uncomfortable that he covered his face with one hand, afraid that the school doctor would see him.
The skin exposed between the fingers was already red.